Danielle Smith’s Non-Apology

Sounding about as sincere as the proverbial used-car salesman but not as convincing, Premier Danielle Smith whipped through an apology to the Alberta legislature Tuesday for breaking the Conflicts of Interest Act back in January when she talked to former justice minister Tyler Shandro about extremist street preacher Artur Pawlowski’s criminal case.

She was presumably trying at the time to get Pawlowski off the hook for the criminal charges he faced for a speech he made inciting further lawbreaking to convoy blockaders at the Coutts border crossing in February 2022. (Rather inconveniently, Pawlowski has since been convicted by a judge.)

On Tuesday, Smith was responding to the May 18 finding by ethics commissioner Marguerite Trussler that also concluded she breached the principle MLAs should never speak with an accused person about criminal charges before the courts.

But in the few seconds and mere 159 words she devoted to the subject at the start of Tuesday’s sitting, the premier didn’t really admit to doing anything wrong, and she didn’t give the impression she was really sorry.

If her tone conveyed anything, it was — “OK, I’ve said I’m sorry, now can we just move along, please?”

Here are her remarks in their entirety.

I am honoured to rise today and nominate a member of this assembly for the role of deputy Speaker. Before I do, however, I’d like to take a moment to address the ethics commissioner report from last month. Although I had no ill intent, the ethics commissioner found it was improper for me to contact the minister of justice in the way I did, and I apologize to all members of the assembly and to all Albertans for the error.

I’ve asked my minister of justice to develop guidelines for an appropriate way to receive his legal advice on various legal matters, and I look forward to receiving that advice. Further, in her report the ethics commissioner provided recommendations, which I accept, including that of mandatory training for MLAs regarding the structure of Canadian government and the roles of the three branches of government. I have directed our government’s justice minister to organize this training for MLAs as well.”

That is all. I guess you could argue it’s only 139 words once the words about the deputy Speaker are out. Whatever, it’s a useful illustration of just how seriously Smith takes this rule of law stuff.

It’s also pretty pathetic that the Alberta legislature has to drum up an adult education course for incoming United Conservative Party MLAs so they understand, in the words of the premier, “the structure of Canadian government and the roles of the three branches of government.”

It’s also not exactly encouraging that our premier needs her new justice minister — the old one having been sent packing by voters in Calgary (pending a judicial recount, of course) — to draw up a lesson for her on how to talk to him without breaking the law.

It is sincerely to be hoped that his instructions don’t involve ensuring she uses an anonymous encrypted messaging app to make her wishes known!

That unpleasant task out of the way, the legislature got on with its real business: sending Nathan Cooper back to the Legislative Assembly Office for another term as Speaker, naming a deputy Speaker, and then adjourning till the end of October.

Meanwhile, NDP Opposition Leader Rachel Notley and justice critic Irfan Sabir, both lawyers by profession, fired off a letter to RCMP deputy commissioner and K Division Cmdr. Curtis Zablocki urging him to open a criminal investigation into Smith’s chats with Shandro on behalf of Pawlowski.

Even if Zablocki takes their advice, this seems unlikely to be very helpful if the Mounties’ performance in the investigation of the UCP’s “Kamikaze candidate” affair in 2017 is anything to go by. Supposedly, that investigation continues, although there are “still no updates.”

Citing as a precedent how the RCMP looked into Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s role in the SNC-Lavalin scandal when asked by then-federal Opposition leader Andrew Scheer, Notley and Sabir argued that “this is a matter of utmost public interest and needs to be investigated in full.”

“An immediate investigation into their matter will serve to reassure Albertans that interference in the justice system is a serious matter and that no one is above the law including those in the position of power,” their letter concluded.

Well, no one will be reassured if the RCMP are still investigating more than five years later.

In a statement to media yesterday, Sabir also charged that Smith “lied to Albertans on her first appearance in the Legislative Assembly today.”

“Smith is further attempting to mislead the public on her attempts to interfere in the administration of justice,” Sabir said. “Today, she claimed to have not been aware of the division of powers between government bodies, and refused to acknowledge her deliberate actions to ensure the criminal charges facing a known practitioner of hate speech were dropped.

“The conclusions reached in the ethics commissioner’s report are clear. Smith knowingly and deliberately attempted to interfere in the justice system. The commissioner states that Ms. Smith was aware of the SNC-Lavalin case, and had already been briefed on the independence of the Crown Prosecutor’s Office. Therefore, Smith is knowingly deceiving Albertans by claiming this was a simple error of understanding. It was not.”